Skip to main content

Local anesthetic toxicity and lipid rescue...



"A Mixed (long- and Medium-chain) Triglyceride Lipid Emulsion Extracts Local Anesthetic from Human Serum In Vitro More Effectively than a Long-chain Emulsion"

Anesthesiology, February 2012




Researchers in the U.K. analyzed the difference between mixed (medium- and long-chain) and long-chain lipid emulsions, for their ability to extract local anesthetic from serum. They concluded that the type of emulsion may make the reversal more effective.


The authors used human drug-free serum and added bupivacaine, ropivacaine, or mepivacaine each at a concentration of 10 µg/ml, or bupivacaine 100 µg/ml at pH 7.4, and, in another experiment, bupivacaine 10 µg at pH 6.9. 20% Intralipid®, which has long-chain triglycerides, or 20% Lipofundin®, which contains a 50-50% mixture of medium- and long-chain triglycerides, was then added at 1, 2, or 4% of total volume. The mean decrease in serum drug concentration was then calculated.

The authors’ in vitro model showed overall that Lipofundin® was significantly better than Intralipid® in extracting the drugs from serum. The relative degree of extraction was bupivacaine > ropivacaine > mepivacaine. This order is consistent with the relative partition constant of each drug. As higher concentrations of either Intralipid® or Lipofundin® were used, the percent decrease of bupivacaine increased and a greater effect was seen with Lipofundin® at each % of lipid. A larger percent decrease in serum bupivacaine was observed after 100 µg/ml bupivacaine compared to 10 µg/ml for both Intralipid® and Lipofundin®, and Lipofundi®n extracted more bupivacaine than Intralipid® at each concentration of either lipid. The effect of pH on sequestering bupivacaine was not significant.

These findings call into question the current advanced cardiac life support guidelines specifying use of a long-chain triglyceride emulsion for lipid rescue, although further in vivo studies that confirm a significant improvement in resuscitation from local anesthetic toxicity with lipofundin are obviously required before drawing any confident conclusions. Also, Lipofundin® is currently commercially unavailable in the United States. Indeed, though the study was performed in the United States, the Lipofundin emulsion that was used was a gift from the manufacturer B. Braun Melsungen AG (Melsungen, Germany)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The pressure volume loop...

In the pressure-volume loop below, cardiac work is best represented by:   the area of the curve  the slope of the line from points C to D  the distance of the line from points C to D  the slope of a line from points A to D .. .. ... .... ... .... .... .... In the pressure-volume loop below, cardiac work is best represented by:  the area of the curve Cardiac work is the product of pressure and volume and is linearly related to myocardial oxygen consumption. Cardiac work is best represented by the area of the curve of a pressure-volume loop.

Anaphylaxis updates part 2- Empty Ventricle Syndrome

Patients with anaphylaxis should not suddenly sit, stand, or be placed in the upright position. Instead, they should be placed on the back with their lower extremities elevated or, if they are experiencing respiratory distress or vomiting, they should be placed in a position of comfort with their lower extremities elevated. This accomplishes 2 therapeutic goals: 1) preservation of fluid in the circulation (the central vascular compartment), an important step in managing distributive shock; and 2) prevention of the empty vena cava/empty ventricle syndrome, which can occur within seconds when patients with anaphylaxis suddenly assume or are placed in an upright position. Patients with this syndrome are at high risk for sudden death. They are unlikely to respond to epinephrine regardless of route of administration, because it does not reach the heart and therefore cannot be circulated throughout the body

Steroids In Perioperative period...The Multi-purpose Drugs

1-Steroids are not Bronchodilator ,but have well established usefulness in hyper-reactive airway. They are also said to have a permissive role for bronchodilator medication. They can be administered orally, parenterally or in aerosol form 2- Steroids have been commonly used in chemotherapy for prevention of nausea along with other anti-emetic agents . Dexamethasone was found to be highly effective when given immediately before induction rather than at the end of anesthesia . 3- Steroids do exert analgesic effects. Various routes of administration of steroids include parentral, local infiltration at operated site , as an adjuvant in nerve blocks and central-neuraxial blockade. 4 - Steroids cannot be the mainstay of therapy in anaphylaxis because of the delayed onset of action, so they are used as adjunct after initial treatment with epinephrine. 5- Steroids (Dexamethsone) are of value in reduction or prevention of cerebral edema associated with parasitic infections and neopla...